Erlang/OTP 25.0 < 27.3.4.15 / 28.0 < 28.5.0.4 / 29.0 < 29.0.4 Heap Corruption (CVE-2026-55737)

critical Nessus Plugin ID 331348

Synopsis

The remote host is missing a security update.

Description

The version of Erlang/OTP installed on the remote host is 25.0 prior to 27.3.4.15, 28.0 prior to 28.5.0.4, or 29.0 prior to 29.0.4. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability:

- Signed to Unsigned Conversion Error and Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in Erlang OTP erts allows an attacker who can supply a crafted Erlang external term format (ETF) binary to binary_to_term/1 to corrupt the BEAM heap pointer and crash the virtual machine. When decoding a LARGE_TUPLE_EXT term, the validation pass reads the 32-bit arity field as unsigned while the decode pass reads the same field as a signed 32-bit integer. The result is an out-of-bounds heap write; in practice the VM detects an impossible heap size and aborts, denying service.
(CVE-2026-55737)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Upgrade to Erlang/OTP version 27.3.4.15, 28.5.0.4, or 29.0.4 or later.

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 331348

File Name: erlang_otp_CVE-2026-55737.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: windows, macosx, unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 7/31/2026

Updated: 7/31/2026

Configuration: Enable thorough checks (optional)

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.9

Percentile: 58.15

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-55737

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/a:erlang:erlang%2fotp

Required KB Items: installed_sw/Erlang-OTP

Patch Publication Date: 7/27/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/27/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-55737

Detections

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